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Thursday, May 22, 2014

When I was a small child I would watch my grandpa walk
endlessly in our back yard with his dandelion pruning fork. He would move from flower to flower
lopping off the blossoms in an endless futile battle. It was futile in part because every flower he missed would
develop a beautiful puff of seeds.
My sister and I could not help but make a wish and blow them all over
our yard. Even without our dubious
help Grandpa was bound to fail.
Dandelions not only are great at spreading their seeds, they have a
taproot that is ten inches long. If any of the roots remain in the ground, the
plant will continue to grow.
My grandpa has been gone for many years. His house where I grew up was
leveled. But when I visit the empty lot, I am greeted by dandelions.

You might wonder at my fixation on weeds today. I recently bought a home in
Grantsville, Maryland and I am learning all about property and yard
maintenance. So many local friends
and family members have been guiding me through this process. It has been a busy and challenging time. I have been on the road often speaking
about advocacy. When I am home, I unpack boxes.

I am creating a micro gallery in my house in the room that
was once designated the living room. It has it own entrance and own interior doors, so I think it
will make an excellent small gallery in Grantsville. (Let me know if any of these paintings interest
you. Most are available to
purchase to help support my continued mission.) The gallery in my home is not the
only micro gallery I am working on.

Many of you have asked about when will we have our large
Washington, DC gathering of the Walking Gallery of Healthcare. This year we are having many small
gatherings around the world instead of one large one. Throughout 2013/2014 we had several small gatherings. We met at MEDX at Stanford in September.

We met at Planetree in Montreal in
October.

We were at HIMSS in
February.

Several of us were gathered at Rev 2014 in DC on May 9th.

There were many more events where members attended singly or in small groups without official conference recognition. Thank you for spreading the word!

We have several upcoming gatherings. On June 3rd we will meet in Baltimore at the
American Heart Association event QCOR14: Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Conference. Our gathering will be from 5:30-7:30 during the poster session at
the Baltimore Hilton. Refreshments
will be served. I know this event
is at the same time as some health events in DC, but hope to see many of our
east coast walkers in attendance.

We will gather at DIA14: Drug Information Association Annual Meeting in San Diego at the San Diego Convention Center on June 16th
from 4-6pm. This reception is being hosted by DIA in honor of the Walking
Gallery of Healthcare. I hope to
see many of our west coast Walkers at the event. We will have a few other small gatherings in 2014 and I will
alert you as they come up.

In Summer 2015, I plan on having a large event here in
Garrett County Maryland. I would
like to create a conference that embraces all of us on many levels. I think it will be a kind of Burning
Man meets Health 2.0 in a rural mountain community. I am already connecting with scientists who are also acrobats, doctors who are musicians and fire dancers focused on healthy living. It should be an epic event. The large 2015 gathering of the Walking Gallery will
be at that event.

Meanwhile my fellow dandelions, I see you flying from venue
to venue. You number over 300
walkers and 24 artists. You are
planting new seeds with really deep roots. You are causing folks to ask important questions inspired by
your stories. You are changing
hearts and minds and helping wishes come true.

The Walking Gallery Mini Doc

About Me

Regina Holliday is a resident of Grantsville, Maryland. She serves on the board of the local non-profit The Highland Thrift Shop. She is a member of the Grantsville Rotary Club. She is also Asst. Cubmaster of Pack 460 Cub Scouts.

In addition, Regina serves as a parent advisor to the Garrett County School Board Health Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce and The Garrett County Arts Council.

Ms. Holliday is an activist, artist, speaker and author. You might see her at a health conference painting the content she hears from the patient view. She is part the movement known as participatory medicine. She and others in this movement believe that the patient is a partner with their provider and both should work together as a team.

Regina is a mother and a widow; she speaks about the benefits of health information technology and timely data access for patients due to her family loss. In 2009, she painted a series of murals depicting the need for clarity and transparency in medical records. This advocacy mission was inspired by her late husband Frederick Allen Holliday II and his struggle to get appropriate care during 11 weeks of continuous hospitalization at 5 facilities. Her paintings became part of the national debate on health care reform and helped guide public policy.

She also began an advocacy movement called “The Walking Gallery.” The Gallery consists of medical providers and advocates who wear patient story paintings on the backs of business suits. Paint and patients, pills and policy all come together within The Walking Gallery of Healthcare. This "walking wall" of 330+ individuals who wear personal patient narrative paintings on their backs is changing minds and opening hearts. They are attending medical conferences where often there isn’t a patient speaker on the dais or in the audience. They are providing a patient voice, and by doing so, are changing the conversation.

She published a book with the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) entitled: "The Walking Wall: 73 Cents to the Walking Gallery."